Alaska

A beautiful wilderness located at the northwest extremity of the west coast of the United States, Alaska is truly a thing of beauty. A big one at that. It is by far the largest state in the United States, larger than the three other biggest states, Texas, California, and Montana combined. It also happened to be the third least populated and sparsely populated state. Filled with out-of-this-world national parks and amazing biodiversity, a trip to Alaska is a trip you will never forget.

As small as the population may be, Alaska is very rich in culture and history. Alaska was inhabited by indigenous peoples thousands of years before the Russians arrived in the 18th century where they then established Russian America. Alaska would then be later explored and battled upon by different European countries trying to colonize it. In 1959, Alaska would be officially introduced as the United State’s 49th state.

Today, indigenous population continues to live in Alaska. In fact, out of all the states in America, Russian continues to have the highest indigenous population ratio. Almost twenty languages are spoken, including native languages, within the state. The state of Alaska also respects and grants Alaskan Natives to exercise influence in local affairs.

Alaska also happens to be one of the richest states. The state’s income per capita is one of the highest in the country. This owes to the fact that Alaska is incredibly rich in natural resources from fishing, natural gas, and oil. The diversified economy helped generate businesses and the successful businesses, in turn, have produced skilled and high paying jobs.

This surprises a lot of people because Alaska is often seen as a cold barren land. Alaska does have an arctic to subarctic climate, but there are also parts of it that have milder, warmer temperatures. Of course, given the sheer size of the state, some parts have unlivable temperatures with long very cold winters and short, but still cold, summers. Some parts do experience milder temperatures.

Alaska’s vastness has lead geographers to divide Alaska into six regions: South Central, Southeast, Interior, Southwest, North Slope, and the Aleutian Islands. The South Central and the Southeast are the most populated and lived in parts of Alaska. Interior is the largest region and for the most part, it is an uninhabited wilderness.

The diversity of the landscape and the regions it is divided to makes Alaska such an exciting destination for outdoor adventurers. Icy waterfalls, ice walls, glaciers caves, icy mountains do make for exciting adventures. You would be surprised by the abundance of wildlife in what you would expect to be a cold barren land.

The Denali National Park, Kenai Fjords National Park, Mendenhall Glacier, and the Iditarod National Historic Trail are some of the many must-sees while there.